Songs of Yore completes three years

Songs of Yore completes three years

Today SoY completes three years. When I look back, it is not merely more of the same. To be sure, the frequency has increased from the preceding two years. Thirty-three posts in the year gone by, i.e. a post every 11 days, is far more than the preceding two years. But more important is the variety. With songs on themes like River, Naiya,Kinare, Jigar; personalities like Asit Baran, Mubarak Begum, Minoo Mumtaz, some potpourri like Wrap Up of Songs of 1955, Mahamoorkhon ke gaane, and historical-musical travelogue of Rangoon/Burma, I have indulged in my freewheeling wanderings. I have to admit, as I have said earlier, that there is an element of स्वान्तः सुखाय here, borne out of the fact that I am the host of the blog. But what is really gratifying is that a lot many people with tremendous amount of knowledge have joined me in sharing my delights.

The year was also remarkable for the galaxy of guest authors who agreed to write for SoY. Beisdes Subodh Agrawal’s continuing series on classical music, Mr Ashok Vaishnav came up with the idea of multiple version songs, which has grown into a mega series, spanning similar songs across different languages and genres. Naturally it needed a collaborative effort, and quite effortlessly we had contributions from Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh on Hindi-Marathi, Mr N Venkataraman on Hindi-Tamil, Ashokji himself on Hindi-Gujarati, besides his articles on Hindi songs, and Anuradha Warrier on Hindi-Malayalam. With 4 articles by Subodh, and 11 in the mega series, the year belonged to the guest authors. They are people with awesome knowledge and generosity. I can’t thank them enough. And the readers too, with the standard of their comments, are as good as guest authors. Without any false modesty I can say that the SoY has been immeasurably enhanced by the readers and guest authors.

On the last two anniversaries I did not write a substantive article, I limited myself to a general overview and what was in my mind for future. In a departure from the past such occasions, let me also ‘write’ something on the anniversary. Let us celebrate this day with three triad songs, which are not merely songs, but represent three different eras and trends in the trajectory of our film music.

1. Duniya rang rangili baba by KC Dey/Pankaj Mullick, Uma Shashi and KL Saigal from Dhartimata (1938), lyrics Pt Sudarshan, music Pankaj Mullick

Once upon a time there was New Theatres which created eternal gems like this, and they were rightly the Gold Standard of music. The world is awash with colour is apparently a song of joy, but Pankaj Mullick gives it a poignant touch which is enhanced by KC Dey singing the first stanza.  A blind person himself, hisYe duiniya ek sundar bagiya shobha iski nyari hai/ Har daari par jadoo chhaya har daari matwari hai is a reminder to us to be grateful to have been born on this earth, which is bestowed with so much beauty. Before he tapers off, Uma Shashi joins in with a completely different tune. And before her stanza finishes, the mellifluous voice of Saigal flows in with yet another tune with very philosophical lyrics:

This world is like a river of sorrow in which our life is a boat 
With the sail of hope, O boatman (My Lord) 
Would you ferry us across 
To a world beyond, which is delightful and joyous 
This world is awash with colour

(KC Dey) 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली बाबा दुनिया रंग रंगीली 
ये दुनिया एक सुंदर बगिया शोभा जिसकी न्यारी है 
हर डारी पे जादू छाया हर डारी मतवारी है 
अद्भुत पंछी फूल मनोहर कली कली चटकीली बाबा 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली बाबा दुनिया रंग रंगीली

(Uma Shashi) 
कदम कदम पर आशा अपना रूप अनूप दिखाती है 
बिगड़े काज बनती है जीवन के गीत सुनाती है 
इसका सुर मिश्री से मीठा इसकी तान रसीली बाबा 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली बाबा दुनिया रंग रंगीली

(KL Saigal) 
दुख की नदिया जीवन नैया आशा के पतवार लगे 
ओ नैया के खेनेवाले नैया तेरी पार लगे 
पार बसत है देस सुनहरा किस्मत छैल छबीली बाबा 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली 
दुनिया रंग रंगीली बाबा दुनिया रंग रंगीली

This is the first time ever that counter-melody was used in Hindi film songs. After 75 years the song still remains evergreen. Please notice Pankaj Mullick’s signature style of composing each of the three stanzas in a different tune, which requires a great deal of virtuosity.  The record version has Pankaj Mullick’s voice in place of KC Dey. We find many such examples of the record version in a different voice than the film version. (A sub-category of Mr Ashok Vaishnav’s mega-series?)   I am presenting both the versions here.

KC Dey-Uma Shashi-KL Saigal version of Duniya rang rangili

Pankaj Mullick-Uma Shashi-KL Saigal version of Duniya rang rangili

2. Challa de ja nishani teri meharbani by Shamshad Begum, Mohammad Rafi and SD Batish from Bazaar (1949), music Shyam Sundar

All good things have to come to an end. By the end of the 1940s Bombay had prevailed over Kolkata. Among several reasons mentioned by scholars for the decline of New Theatres was the ability of Bombay to assimilate everything, while the former was stuck in its classicism. Bombay’s ascendancy was spearheaded in the mid-30s by Anil Biswas among others. A Bengali to the core himself, he was also open to other forms and influences. Bombay had its own very strong classical and Marathi Natya Sangeet tradition. Then it welcomed every genre – folk, ghazal, qawwali, Western, and music from every region. The most representative example of this syncretism is Ana meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday (Chitalkar, Meena Kapoor and Shamshad Begum; Shehnai, 1947 by C Ramchandra). But since this song is too well known, I choose a less known gem which represents another powerful force in film music. The beginning of the 40s saw a storm from Punjab (Lahore) hit the music scene in the voice of Shamshad Begum and composer Ghulam Hyder, which was full throated and joyous with beats of the tabla. Shyam Sundar was another stalwart of Punjab School. Rafi and SD Batish also came from the Punjab tradition. So you have pure Punjab in this song, which has no time for deep philosophy or social message. This is a song of undiluted delight. Shamshad Begum soars over the other two in this triad song as usual, even though the uploader has given Mohammad Rafi’s picture as the thumbnail. So let us pay our tribute to this great legend, whom we lost recently, with this song.  With this song, it is a unique coincidence that in my last three consecutive posts I have greeted or paid a tribute to her; not quite planned that way, but because she is such a great favourite that she keeps on appearing.

3. O Ramaiya vastavaiya by Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh from Shree 420 (1957), lyrics Shailendra, music Shankar Jaikishan

The transition from the 40s to 50s, i.e. 1949 was an important watershed year when even a greater tornado than Shamshad Begum hit the film music. That was a girl twenty years old, named Lata Mangeshkar, who swept every one aside, and soon became a byword for female playback singing. Another landmark of that year was the young duo Shankar Jaikishan, who caused a sensation with their very first film Barsaat. Raj Kapoor became an institution with the ‘RK team’ which also had Mukesh, Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. This song is a definitive celebration of Bomaby – Shankar from Hyderabad seamlessly using Telugu refrain O Ramaiya vastavaiya (O Lord Ram, when would you come), Jaikishan from Gujarat, Lata Mangeshkar from Maharashtra, Rafi from Punjab, Mukesh from Delhi and Shailendra from Bihar. The baton has passed on to the new generation of great singers and composers. Bombay is the place where Raj (a man from nowhere and everywhere) comes to seek his future. There are streets, poor people and innocence, and there is a dark, greedy and unscrupulous metropolis where the good Raj had strayed. He comes back to the street where he belongs, where he is embraced again by his people and joins in the song in the last stanza in the voice of Mukesh with a contrasting poignancy.

Bagikan ke Facebook